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☆ Fox has more headaches coming after agreeing to pay $787.5 million to settle Dominion's defamation lawsuit
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-20 | by ( Jacob Shamsian | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +8 min

After shelling out $787.5 billion to settle Dominion's lawsuit, Fox has more troubles on the way. Atop the list is a separate lawsuit from Smartmatic, another election technology company that sued Fox News Network and its parent company, Fox Corp., in the aftermath of the 2020 presidential election. Smartmatic's defamation lawsuit asks for $2.7 billion in damages and was filed against Fox Corp.; Fox News Network; hosts Jeanine Pirro, Maria Bartiromo, and Lou Dobbs; and Powell and Giuliani. Aside from the Smartmatic case, Fox News has to deal with potential shareholder lawsuits. The overall value of Fox Corp. — which also includes Fox Sports and the streaming service Tubi — is more than $17.6 billion.

☆ 16 takeaways from Fox News' historic $787.5 million settlement with Dominion
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-19 | by ( Jacob Shamsian | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +16 min

In the moments after I watched the judge announce the settlement in court, 16 things went through my mind:1. Evidence obtained by Dominion in the lawsuit and filed to court ahead of the settlement appeared to support that theory. There's always the Smartmatic case. In court filings ahead of the settlement, Fox complained about the $1.6 billion price tag Dominion put on the lawsuit. "Would be pretty unreal if you guys like 20x'ed your Dominion investment with these lawsuits," read one text to a Staple Street executive cited in a Fox court filing.

☆ Fox News settles Dominion's defamation lawsuit for $787.5 million over election conspiracy theories just as the trial is about to start
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-18 | by ( Jacob Shamsian | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +11 min

Fox News settled Dominion's defamation lawsuit over election conspiracy theories for $787.5 million. WILMINGTON, Delaware — Fox News settled Dominion Voting Systems's blockbuster defamation lawsuit just as it was about to go to trial, agreeing to pay it $787.5 million. In a press conference after Davis announced the settlement, Dominion CEO John Poulos criticized Fox for broadcasting lies about the company. Dominion first filed its lawsuit against Fox News and its parent company, Fox Corp., in March 2021. Representatives of Fox News arrive at the justice center for the Dominion Voting Systems' defamation lawsuit against Fox News, in Wilmington, Delaware.

[1/2] Donald Trump (R) speaks to media mogul Rupert Murdoch as they walk out of Trump International Golf Links in Aberdeen, Scotland, June 25, 2016. REUTERS/Carlo AllegriApril 11 (Reuters) - A Fox Corp (FOXA.O) shareholder sued Chairman Rupert Murdoch and four other board members on Tuesday, saying they failed to stop Fox News from reporting falsehoods about the 2020 U.S. presidential election that damaged its credibility and prompted lawsuits. The lawsuit seeks damages for the company from Rupert Murdoch, his son and Fox Chief Executive Lachlan Murdoch, and fellow directors Chase Carey, Roland Hernandez and Jacques Nasser. Fox has argued that election-rigging claims by Trump and his lawyers were inherently newsworthy and protected by legal doctrines concerning press freedom. The shareholder lawsuit cited filings in the Dominion lawsuit, which said Murdoch had acknowledged under questioning from Dominion lawyers that some Fox hosts had "endorsed" the idea that the election was stolen.

☆ Cutera fires CEO, stock tumbles and large investor speaks out
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-12 | by ( Svea Herbst-Bayliss | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

CEO David Mowry and activist investor J. Daniel Plants, who has served on the board for eight years, were terminated for alleged violations of their employment contracts, Cutera said. RTW Investments, Cutera's second biggest investor with a 9.3% stake, called on the company to reinstate Mowry and to hold a special meeting. Market reaction to Mowry's removal "demonstrates the need for the Special Meeting and the lack of confidence in the board," RTW said in a statement. Top Cutera executives, including the chief financial officer, on Tuesday supported Mowry and Plants, arguing the men work well together and had earned their trust. The California-based company, which sells devices including laser treatments for tattoo removal and acne, appointed independent board member Sheila Hopkins as interim CEO.

☆ Twitter's former top execs, fired by Elon Musk on his first day in charge, are suing the company for $1 million in unpaid bills
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-11 | by ( Pete Syme | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

Twitter's former CEO, CFO, and chief legal officer are suing Twitter for over $1 million. They claim they had agreements with the company that it would reimburse any legal fees they incurred. The company took two months to acknowledge their demands and still won't pay, the suit alleges. The suit claims the two ex-execs racked up legal fees to deal with these cases and comply with various demands. The trio's action against Twitter follows several others alleging that the company has failed to pay bills since Musk took over the company last October.

☆ Former Twitter executives sue company to recover over $1 million in legal fees
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-11 | by ( Brian Fung | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +2 min

The complaint also describes legal fees linked to probes by the Securities and Exchange Commission and the Justice Department, though without disclosing many specifics of the investigations. Agrawal continued to field requests through the fall and after he stepped down from Twitter, according to the complaint. And late last year, it said, the Justice Department contacted Agrawal and Segal’s attorneys about multiple investigations into Twitter. Letters to Twitter seeking reimbursement for the legal expenses were ignored for months, according to the complaint. As of Monday, the executives still have not recovered the fees, the complaint said.

REUTERS/Andrew KellyApril 3 (Reuters) - A Delaware judge on Monday dismissed Merck & Co's (MRK.N) lawsuit seeking to hold Bayer AG (BAYGn.DE) responsible for more talc-related liabilities stemming from its $14.2 billion purchase of Merck's consumer care business in 2014. Bayer welcomed the decision, saying that it expected Merck to "take full responsibility for the product claims". "Bayer will continue to defend itself against any further efforts by Merck to avoid or improperly transfer its liabilities to Bayer," the company said in a statement. The $14.2 billion purchase also included Merck's Claritin allergy medicine and Coppertone sunscreen lines. The case is Merck & Co v. Bayer AG, Delaware Chancery Court, No.

Companies Meta Platforms Inc FollowMarch 21 (Reuters) - A new lawsuit accuses Mark Zuckerberg and other Meta Platforms Inc (META.O) executives and directors of failing to do enough to stop sex trafficking and child sexual exploitation on Facebook and Instagram. Given the board's failure to explain how it tries to root out the problem, "the only logical inference is that the board has consciously decided to permit Meta's platforms to promote and facilitate sex/human trafficking," the complaint said. "We prohibit human exploitation and child sexual exploitation in no uncertain terms," it said in a statement on Tuesday. Zuckerberg, Meta's billionaire co-founder and chief executive, told Congress in 2019 that child exploitation was "one of the most serious threats that we focus on." Meta, based in Menlo Park, California, has long faced accusations that its platforms are a haven for sexual misconduct.

☆ AMC plunges as investors approve reverse stock split, APE share conversion
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-14 | by ( Sarah Whitten | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +2 min

AMC investors voted Tuesday to approve a reverse stock split and the conversion of APE shares into common company shares. The APE stock was issued less than a year ago. The hearing is centered around a class-action lawsuit that claims AMC circumvented shareholders who were against adding more shares by creating the preferred stock APE. Tuesday's vote comes less than a month after AMC posted disappointing fourth quarter earnings. Losses also widened, as AMC posted a net loss of $287.7 million, a steeper fall than the $134.4 million in losses it posted a year ago.

☆ McDonald’s Directors Beat Sexual Misconduct Oversight Lawsuit
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-01 | by ( Richard Vanderford | ) www.wsj.com time to read: +5 min

The decision throws out shareholders’ claims against nine individuals who sat on McDonald’s board during a period in which sexual misconduct claims at the company drew widespread public scrutiny. After his termination, Mr. Easterbrook was accused of having undisclosed sexual relationships with other employees. McDonald’s ultimately settled a lawsuit against Mr. Easterbrook, clawing back some of his compensation. The shareholders alleged in their lawsuit that Mr. Fairhurst failed to appropriately respond to systemic issues of sexual misconduct at the company, a problem in which he was implicated. But Vice Chancellor Laster said McDonald’s directors “engaged with the problem” and can’t be held liable.

☆ MediaMath seemed destined for a $1B fairy-tale exit. Instead, most early investors got nothing.
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-01 | by ( Lara O'Reilly | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +19 min

At its Halloween party in 2015, the adtech startup MediaMath seemed on the brink of greatness. The machine-learning revolution that took over the financial industry was finally happening in marketing, and many industry insiders considered MediaMath to be the hottest adtech company of the time. "We never came close to consummating such a deal with MediaMath nor entertained the purported valuation," said a representative for Singtel. The Trade Desk, the most comparable independent DSP company to MediaMath, was riding high after its 2016 initial public offering. The quasi-equity agreement was structured to protect Searchlight if MediaMath didn't perform to certain quotas or if things went south financially.

☆ Girl Scout mom kicked out of Radio City and barred from seeing Rockettes after facial recognition tech identified her
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-21 | by ( Julianne Mcshane | ) www.nbcnews.com time to read: +5 min

“I was just a mom taking my daughter to see a Christmas show,” she told NBC New York. It’s un-American to do this.”The Rockettes perform at Radio City Music Hall in New York in 2019. The spokesperson added that a sign outside Radio City Music Hall informs visitors that facial recognition technology is among the security measures it has in place. The company spokesperson called its policy “straightforward” and said attorneys at firms pursuing litigation against it are welcome at its venues once the litigation is resolved. New York court records show that there are more than 20 active lawsuits pending against MSG Entertainment and its properties in the state.

Nov 16 (Reuters) - Dell Technologies Inc (DELL.N) on Wednesday said it reached a $1 billion settlement of a lawsuit accusing it of short-changing some shareholders in a controversial $23.9 billion transaction in 2018 that marked its return as a publicly traded company. The disputed December 2018 transaction involved a stock swap related to Dell's interest in software maker VMware. Dell paid $14 billion in cash and issued 149.4 million Class C shares in exchange for outstanding Class V shares, which tracked VMware's publicly traded stock. Holders of the Class V shares sought $10.7 billion in damages, saying their stock was worth far more than Dell paid for it, while the Class C stock was worth far less than Michael Dell and Silver Lake claimed. Michael Dell was worth $52 billion on Tuesday, according to Forbes magazine.

☆ Dell reaches $1 billion lawsuit settlement
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-16 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

Nov 16 (Reuters) - Dell Technologies Inc (DELL.N) has reached a $1 billion settlement of a lawsuit accusing it of short-changing some investors in an approximately $24 billion transaction where it returned to being a publicly traded company. In a regulatory filing on Wednesday, Dell said the settlement is subject to approval by a Delaware Chancery Court judge, and will be reflected in its third-quarter results. Dell paid $14 billion in cash and issued 149.4 million Class C shares in exchange for all outstanding Class V shares. It said holders of the Class V shares claimed that the transaction was conducted at billions of dollars below fair value. The settlement also covers claims against Goldman Sachs Group Inc (GS.N), a defendant in the lawsuit, Dell said.

☆ Investors who stuck it out for Musk's Twitter deal set to reap rewards
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-28 | by ( Svea Herbst-Bayliss | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +4 min

[1/3] The Twitter logo is seen on the floor at the New York Stock Exchange in New York, November 7, 2013. If the deal had collapsed, the price floor for Twitter stock would have been "unknown", White said, adding that investors waged their risk on Delaware Chancery court, where corporate disputes are resolved. Investors sold 107,626 million Twitter shares in the second quarter, regulatory filings and Symmetric.io data show, with activist investors and tech oriented funds leading the sales. As the stock price dropped early in the third quarter, some investors saw a chance to buy in for cheap. that Twitter investors were not trapped.

☆ Elon Musk's lawyers say his $50 billion Tesla pay package is justified because he's 'not the typical CEO' as a November trial approaches
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-27 | by ( Grace Kay | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

Elon Musk's lawyers say the billionaire's over $50 billion Tesla compensation plan is justified. Musk faces a trial in November over a lawsuit from an investor regarding his 2018 pay package. The pay plan is structured around Tesla's performance goals and includes over 100 million stock options. The company has since surpassed the metrics as its market value surged from $53 billion to over $690 billion, Musk's lawyers said in the court filing. McCormick presiding over the case — the same judge that has overseen Musk's court battle with Twitter.

SpaceX Chief Engineer Elon Musk takes part in a joint news conference with T-Mobile CEO Mike Sievert (not pictured) at the SpaceX Starbase, in Brownsville, Texas, U.S., August 25, 2022. Tesla CEO Elon Musk is now in charge of Twitter , CNBC has learned. Twitter CEO Parag Agrawal and finance chief Ned Segal have left the company's San Francisco headquarters and will not be returning, sources said. A Delaware Chancery Court judge eventually ruled that Musk had until Oct. 28 to cement the Twitter deal or head to trial. Musk arrived at the Twitter headquarters earlier this week carrying a sink, and documented the event on Twitter, saying "Entering Twitter HQ – let that sink in!"

☆ Elon Musk carried a sink into Twitter on Wednesday as deal nears close
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-26 | by ( Lauren Feiner | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +2 min

Elon Musk arrives at the In America: An Anthology of Fashion themed Met Gala at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City, New York, May 2, 2022. Musk has until 5 p.m. Eastern Time on Friday to complete his deal to buy Twitter or again face the proposition of going to trial. A Delaware Chancery Court judge set the Friday deadline after Musk said he would be willing to buy Twitter after all. The judge ended up postponing the original trial set for last week and gave the parties until the end of this week to close to deal, or else she would set new trial dates for November. WATCH: How Elon Musk's Twitter takeover plans shook Wall Street and social media

☆ Elon Musk must close Twitter deal by end of this week or face trial
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-24 | by ( Clare Duffy | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +5 min

New York CNN Business —The clock is ticking for Elon Musk to complete his deal to buy Twitter. ET on Friday to close his $44 billion acquisition of Twitter or face a trial that was previously delayed to allow both parties to close the deal. Musk in April agreed to buy Twitter (TWTR) for $54.20 per outstanding share and then, weeks later, sought to terminate the deal. Bloomberg last week reported that the company had frozen employees’ stock accounts in anticipation of the deal’s closing, and that lawyers for both Musk and Twitter were preparing paperwork to close the deal. Musk, meanwhile, told Tesla shareholders that he was “excited” about Twitter even as he admitted to “obviously overpaying” for it.

☆ Elon Musk says he is 'obviously overpaying' in his $44 billion deal to buy Twitter
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-20 | by ( Grace Dean | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

Elon Musk says he's "obviously overpaying" with his $44 billion deal to buy Twitter. Musk is the world's richest person with an estimated net worth of $209 billion. Musk is the world's richest person, with a current net worth of $209 billion, according to estimates by Bloomberg. Musk U-turned on his decision to buy Twitter – and then U-turned againMusk initially offered to buy Twitter in April after accumulating a 9.2% share, making him its biggest shareholder, and trying to join its board of directors. Bloomberg reported that Twitter froze its employees' ability to access and trade shares on Monday in a sign that Musk's deal is close to completion.

☆ Twitter has frozen staff stock accounts in a concrete sign Elon Musk's takeover deal is close to completion, report says
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-19 | by ( Grace Dean | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

The move is seemingly a clear sign Twitter plans to go ahead with the $44 million Elon Musk takeover deal. A judge has given the parties until October 28 to close on the deal. Musk and Twitter came close to agreeing a deal at a roughly 8% discount for the tech mogul. Musk's legal team has said the deal can close by then. Sources told Insider that hundreds of Twitter employees have fled the company since June, though a spokesperson attributed this to macroeconomic factors.

☆ Twitter seeking documents related to federal investigation of Elon Musk
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-13 | by ( Jonathan Vanian | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +2 min

Twitter said in a court filing released on Thursday that it's trying to obtain documents from Elon Musk related to a federal investigation into the Tesla CEO's $44 billion bid for the company. Lawyers representing Twitter said the company first asked for the materials related to the investigation on July 22, and that Musk's legal team has failed to comply, citing "investigative privilege," according to the filing. "Elon Musk is presently under investigation by federal authorities for his conduct in connection with the acquisition of Twitter," the lawyers wrote. Twitter sued Musk in July to try and force him to close the deal. WATCH: Elon Musk denies report that he talked to Russia's Putin recently about Ukraine war."

☆ The fate of Elon Musk’s deal to buy Twitter now comes down to the money
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-07 | by ( Clare Duffy | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +5 min

What everyone is now waiting on: Musk needs to actually have the money to hand over. Much of the sticking point between Musk and Twitter (TWTR) now appears to be over uncertainty around the status of those financing arrangements. Many legal experts think Musk really is planning to close the deal this time, the most certain anyone has sounded since he first said the deal was “on hold” in May and moved to terminate the agreement in July. Musk is likely trying to help Morgan Stanley market the debt to other investors before telling them to hand him the money to close the deal, according to Lipton. According to the merger agreement, Musk could in theory walk away from the deal with a $1 billion breakup payment to Twitter if his debt financing were to fall through.

A Delaware judge has agreed to stay the coming trial between Elon Musk and Twitter so the two sides can work out a deal for Musk to acquire the social media company. The trial had originally been set to start Oct. 17. Should the two sides fail to finalize a deal, the trial would start in November, she said. Twitter opposed the offer as it sought to force Musk to close the deal on the exact terms he agreed to in April. Musk countersued, accusing the company of misleading him and investors — allegations Twitter has denied.

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